Prof. VISVALDIS KURSS (1928 - 2000)

Dear Colleagues,

We deeply regret to inform you that the outstanding Devonian sedimentologist and discoverer of the Lode fish locality Prof., Dr. hab. geol. Visvaldis Kurss, passed away on December 24, 2000. Visvaldis Kurss was Professor Emeritus at the University of Latvia and Honorary Member of Latvian Academy of Sciences. The research on mineral deposits of Latvia was under the leadership of Prof. Kurss.

Photo of Professor Kurss on his 70th birthday, taken by Ieva Upeniece in 1998	During the past thirty years he studied the Devonian sequence in Latvia and neighbouring areas, including Circum-Arctic regions. Two significant monographs on lithology and sedimentation of the Devonian clastics on the Main Devonian Field were published by him in 1975 and 1992. His detailed investigations of siliciclastic deposits resulted in conclusions of their origin in a shallow marine environment and deltaic submarine slopes in contrast to the previously-dominant opinion of their alluvial and limnic genesis.
After 1970, when Prof. V. Kurss discovered the Devonian fish locality in the clays of Lode quarry, he carried out field studies on the depositional environment and burial conditions of fish remains. Together with Dr. E. Mark-Kurik, Dr. V. Talimaa, and Dr. L. Lyarskaya, the excavations of well-preserved complete fish bodies of Asterolepis ornata, Laccognathus panderi, and Panderichtys rhombolepis took place; scientific papers together with L. Lyarskaya, I. Upeniece, E.Luksevics, and I.Zupins were published. V. Kurss, with pleasure, shared his knowledge with colleagues and students. He also organised the post-meeting field excursion to the most significant Devonian outcrops of Latvia during the Second International Colloquium on Middle Palaeozoic Fishes, held in Tallinn in 1989.		Photo of Lode fossil fishes in situ, taken by Prof. Kurss in 1971, shortly after he discovered the locality. Asterolepis ornata is the most common fish in the photo, with one Laccognathus panderi on the right side.

The Ergli locality on the banks of the Gauja River. This locality was visited by IGCP 406 members during the field excursion following the 1999 meeting in Jurmala.

Visvaldis Kurss was a keen collector and an enjoyer of life, having a fund of anecdotal stories of earlier happenings. Yearly tours by boats on the river Gauja for enjoyment of the most impressive Devonian sandstone outcrops of Latvia, organised by himself, are remembered by his colleagues and students with great pleasure. His personality and his wide knowledge made him a man of considerable influence, held in high regard by the scientific community of geologists and paleontologists.

Ieva Upeniece,

Riga, Latvia